Jury Convicts Lowell Wind Protesters Of Trespassing Charges

A jury in Newport found six anti-wind protesters guilty on Wednesday of trespassing
on land leased by Green Mountain Power. The so-called Lowell Six got arrested
last December while trying to block an access road to the site where GMP was erecting wind turbines on Lowell Mountain.

It took the jury a
little less than four hours to reach the verdict State's Attorney Sarah Baker asked for in her closing
statement.

"Law enforcement acting on behalf of Green Mountain Power asked
the defendants to leave the property," Baker said. "The defendants were given the opportunity
to leave the property. These defendants chose to stay on the property and be
arrested."

But whose property
is it? That's under dispute. A surveyor
hired by GMP testified that the protesters were arrested on land
leased to the company.

But defense
attorney Kristina Michelsen produced another surveyor who drew the property
line in favor of wind power project abutters Don and Shirley Nelson, who allowed
the protesters on their land.

A
protester testified that he had no intention of trespassing, and believed he had
not crossed into GMP property. So
Michelsen summed it up this way.

"But the case really is simple. As I have
said, if you're on someone else's property and stay there after they ask you to
leave, that's trespassing," Michelsen said. "But if the person who tells you to leave does not
have the legal authority to do so and they do not have legal possession of that
property, you don't have to listen to them."

But after highly
technical testimony about property lines, the jury evidently decided Green
Mountain Power's claim to the land was solid enough to justify the arrests. State
Attorney Baker had no comment. Defense attorney Michelsen said she was
disappointed and surprised.

And protester Robert Holland said he thought the
state was wrong to bring charges to begin with.

"I'm very
disappointed in the fact that our government institutions allow property to be
developed when there's a legitimate lawsuit behind it, a legitimate property
dispute," he said.

He's referring to
pending civil litigation between the property owners which has yet to decide
where the boundary line lies between the land GMP leased, and the Nelson farm where protesters claim they were arrested.
A hearing could determine whether GMP gets restitution. The maximum criminal penalty is three months in jail
and/or a five hundred dollar fine. Attorney Michelsen says her clients have not
yet decided whether to appeal the jury's decision.